Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1052

Rh 1040 THEODORETUS. disastrous position in the controversy, through the necessity of resisting the renewed diffusion of the opinions of Cyril by the efforts of a party of Syrian monks, and still more by those of the cele- biated Eutyches of Constantinople, with whose name the Cyrillian doctrine became identified. [Eutyches.] Dioscorus supported the party of Eutyches with all his might ; and, besides this ground of opposition, he had a personal motive of dislike to Theodoret, because the latter had signed a synodical epistle of Proclus, the bishop of Con- stantinople, implying thereby, as Dioscorus main- tained, the superiority of that patriarch to those of Alexandria and Antioch. In fact, the conduct of I)ioscorut> throughout the whole Eutychian con- troversy betrays at least as much care for the aggrandizement of his own see as for the cause of truth. Through the influence of this prelate at the imperial court, Theodosius, who made no secret of the dislike he bore to Theodoret for his opposition to Cyril, was induced to issue a command to the bishop of Cyrus to confine himself within the limits of his own diocese, a. d. 448. At the same time that he obeyed the mandate, Theodoret addressed letters to some of the principal men of the empire, in vindication of his conduct ; and in these letters we find some of the most interesting particulars of his previous life (Epist. 79 — 82). He had already done his best to appease the enmity of Dioscorus by a letter, explaining his opinions, and adducing, as a proof of his orthodoxy, his acceptance of the statement of doctrine agreed upon by John and Cyril. Dioscorus, however, replied in the most violent language, plainly calling Theodoret a Nes- torian. As a last attempt to pacify the proud patriarch, Theodoret went so far, in a second letter, as to declare those accursed who said that the Virgin was not the mother of God, or that Christ was a mere man, or who would represent the Only- begotten as if in his person there were two Sons of God ; Dioscorus cut short the correspondence, by pronouncing a public anathema upon Theodoret in the church of Alexandria ; and soon afterwards, in A. D. 449, he assembled under his own pre- sidency the second Council of Ephesus, justly called the robber-synod, which pronounced the deposition both of Theodoret, and of Flavian, patriarch of Constantinople, Domnus, patriarch of Antioch, and the other bishops who had condemned Eutyches at the synod of Constantinople in the preceding year. Theodoret had been excluded from the synod which deposed him by the express wish of the emperor, who now commanded him to retire to a monastery at Apamea ; his enemies even threatened him with Uanishment. He bore his fall with dig- nity and cheerfulness, and preferred rather to suffer want than to accept the presents which were offered to him on every hand. Still neither he nor Flavian felt themselves bound to leave their enemies to enjoy their triumph and to domineer over the Church. They turned to the only remaining quarter in which there was any power to help them, the Roman bishop, Leo the Great, to whom Theodoret wrote a letter (Epist. 113), celebrating the renown of the apostolic see, praising the virtues and religious zeal of Leo, defending his own ortho- doxy by quotations from his writings, and request- ing permission to come to Rom«, provided that the emperor should give his consent, to submit the whole case to the judgment of Leo and the Western bishops ; at the same time he requested to be ad- THEODORETUS. vised whether he should submit to his deposition. Leo, who had already pronounced against the Eu- tychians, accepted Theodorefs confession of faith as satisfactory, and declared him absolved from all eccle- siastical censure : but the proposal for an oecumeni- cal council in Italy was negatived by the emperor. At this precise juncture, however, the whole state of affifiirs was suddenly changed by the death of Theodosius II., A. D. 450, and the accession of Pulcheria and Marcianus, who were unfavourable to the Eutychians. Theodoret and the other deposed bishops were recalled from retirement, on the con- dition that they should be reinstated in their sees by the decision of an oecumenical council ; and Theodoret himself joined in the demand for such a council, as necessary to restore peace to the Church. It assembled, first at Nicaea, and afterwards at Chalcedon, in a. d. 451. At its eighth session the petition of Theodoret for restoration to his bishopric was discussed, and he himself appeared to plead his cause. He was most enthusiastically received by his friends, but the party of his ene- mies was still powerful, at least in clamour. When he attempted to give an account of his opinions, he was interrupted by the cry, *' Curse Nestorius, his doctrines, and his adherents ! " In vain did he represent that he cared far less for restoration to his see than for permission to clear himself from the misrepresentations to which he had been sub- jected : the generous answer to his appeal was the renewed cry, " He is a heretic himself: he is a Nestorian : thrust out the heretic ! " Yielding at last to the clamour, he exclaimed, " Anathema on Nestorius, and on every one who denies that Mary is the mother of God, and who divides the Only- begotten into two Sons. I have subscribed the confession of faith, and the letter of tl)e bishop Leo ; and this is my faith. — Farewell." This de- claration was received with the applause of the whole assembly, and their unanimous vote restored Theodoret to his bishopric. (Harduin. Concil. vol. ii. pp. 496", foil.) Whatever weakness Theodoret displayed on this occasion consisted, not in the sacrifice of any reli- gious conviction, but in suffering himself to be deprived of the opportunity of explaining his real opinions. He was no Nestorian ; and, though his whole character forbids us to suppose that he was a believer in anathemas, yet he had the misfortune to live in an age when the anathema was esteemed the natural and proper form for a declaration of religious belief, and when no man was deemed sincere in the faith which he professed, until he was also prepared to declare the doctrines from which he differed accursed. Theodoret himself, as we have seen, had already condemned the tenets of Nestorius in nearly the very words which he uttered at the council ; and if he hesitated to repeat them then, it was only as a protest against the spirit in which the declaration was sought to be extorted from him ; a protest which, we think, is implied in the " farewell," by which he appears to utter his resolution never more to mix in such scenes of strife. That resolution he kept. After sharing in the subsequent proceedings of the coun- cil, which compensated to some degree for its conduct towards him by pronouncing the condem- nation of Eutyches, Theodoret returned to his home at Cyrus, where he devoted the rest of his life to literary labours, committing the charge of his diocese to Hypatius. He appeirs to have died